The Landau Commission was a three-man Commission set up by the Israeli Government in 1987 following a long-running scandal over the deaths of two Palestinian prisoners in custody and the wrongful conviction of a Circassian IDF officer. The Commission, headed by former Supreme Court Justice Moshe Landau, found that the GSS (General Security Service/Shabak/Shin Bet) interrogators routinely used physical force during the interrogation of prisoners and then committed perjury at subsequent trials. In its conclusion, approved by Cabinet in November 1987, it lay down guidelines for the use of a "moderate measure of physical pressure". The details of the recommended methods were described in the classified appendix to the report.Human Rights Watch, "Prison Conditions in Israel and the Occupied Territories - A Middle East Watch Report." 1991, . Page 11. In 1994 the UN Committee Against Torture stated: "The Landau Commission Report, permitting as it does 'moderate physical pressure' as a lawful mode of interrogation, is completely unacceptable to this Committee."Catherine Cook, Adam Hanieh, Adah Kay, "Stolen Youth - The politics of Israel's detention of Palestinian children." 2004. . Page 155. Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture: Israel, A/49/44, paras 159-71 (12 June 1994.
Background
The hijacking of Bus 300 in 1984 led to public disquiet about the GSS. In 1986 the head of the GSS, Avraham Shalom, resigned after being accused of attempting to frame a senior IDF general for the murder of two Palestinian prisoners killed after the hijacking. With his resignation he was given a presidential pardon. On 6 August 1986 the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against the pardon, but Attorney General Yosef Harish promised there would be an investigation.Middle East International issue 281, page 6,8 August 1986. Peretz Kidron.
Over the summer of 1986 the Israeli public were also facing the unfolding Pollard spy scandal in the United States as well as the publication of a very critical report into the banking system. It is possible that concerns about the GSS would have been forgotten. But a fresh scandal arouse the following year, April 1987.
A change in the law had created an opening for verdicts of Military Courts to be challenged in the Supreme Court. In 1980 Azat Naffso, an IDF Lieutenant and member of Israel's 2,000-strong Circassian community from Kfar Kanna, had been convicted by a secret court martial of transmitting information and explosives to "hostile parties" and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Naffso lodged an appeal against his sentence on the grounds of fabricated evidence and false testimony.Middle East International, issue 299, page 12. 1 May 1987. Peretz Kidron. At the end of May 1987 he was released after being cleared of most of the charges. Attorney General Harish had offered no opposition to the appeal. The court was very critical about GSS behavior, in particular by GSS claims that Naffso's confessions, on which the case was based, were given freely and without undue pressure. The court ordered that Naffso should be financially compensated and his IDF rank restored. Once again GSS activities were being discussed in public. Israeli state television quoted "Senior Shabak (GSS) figures" as saying that Naffso was subject to procedures identical to those "in hundreds of other cases."Middle East International, issue 301, page 9. 29 May 1987. Peretz Kidron.
Under immense pressure from the judiciary the Government set up a secret three-man Commission of inquiry headed by the President of the Supreme Court Moshe Landau.
The Commission
The "Commission of Inquiry into the Methods of Investigation of the General Security Service Regarding Hostile Terrorist Activity" was established on 31 May 1987. Its remit was to look into "the investigation methods and procedures of the GSS on Hostile Terrorist Activity, and the giving of testimony in Court regarding these investigations."Amnesty International, July 1991. AI Index:MDE 15/34/91. "Document - Israel and the Occupied Territories: The military justice system in the Occupied Territories: detention, interrogation and trial procedures." Page 42. quoting paragraph 1.6 of the Report.
The final report was published on 30 October 1987 and endorsed by the cabinet 8 November 1987.
The findings
Perjury In the previous two decades some 50% of GSS interrogations led to trials, and "the overwhelming majority of those tried were convicted on the basis of their confession in court."AI, page 43, Landau para 2.20.
The Commission found that interrogators were permitted "from time to time to employ means of pressure, including physical pressure." They found this measure "unavoidable" and "an interrogation tool of utmost importance"AI, page 43, quoting Landau paras 2.21, 2.37. but that a "dilemma" arose about revealing the methods of interrogation since it would "appear to the court as violating the principle of a person's free will, and thus causing the rejection of the confession."AI page 43, Landau para 2.26.
They found that the GSS "simply lied, thus committing the criminal offence of perjury" and that "false testimony in court soon became the unchallenged norm which was to be the rule for 16 years."AI page 43, Landau paras 2.27, 2.30. In 1982 a written "guideline as to the nature of the lie to be told" with regard to "method of physical pressure" was issued by the highest GSS authorities.AI page 43, Landau para 2.31.
The Commission was satisfied that the practice of committing perjury had "completely discontinued" after the head of GSS issued a directive on 10 June 1987.AI page 43, Landau para 2.33. Middle East International, issue 313, 21 November 1987. Peretz Kidron.
It also found that the judges, prosecutors, police and medical personnel were unaware of systematic perjury by GSS interrogators. "Even though no judges were called to appear before us and we heard no explicit denial, we find this allegation to be baseless, and wholly unacceptable."AI page 47, Landau paras 2.43 - 2.46.
Habeas corpus With regard to Habeas Corpus the Commission found that the keeping of prisoners "without judicial supervision for a period of 18 days not acceptable." Hence "We support the proposal to shorten this period and recommend that the question of prolonging the detention be brought before a judge no later than the eighth day after the day of his arrest."AI pages 22, 36. Landau para 4.17.
Interrogation techniques The Commission found that the use of violence against Palestinians suspected of terrorism and other Palestinian prisoners was an acceptable method of interrogation. They argued, in the light of what they called "the concept of the lesser evil", that "actual torture it is unacceptable but . . . moderate physical pressure would be perhaps be justified in order to uncover a bomb about to explode in a building full of people . . . whether the charge is certain to be detonated in five minutes or in five days."
"To put it bluntly, the alternative is: are we to accept the offence of assault entailed in slapping a suspect's face, or threatening him, in order to induce him to talk and reveal a cache of explosive materials meant for use in carrying an act of mass terror against a civilian population, and thereby prevent the greater evil which is about to occur? The answer is self evident."AI pages 44, 46. Landau para 3.15.
Elsewhere they state: "The effective interrogation of terrorist suspects is impossible without the use of means of pressure, in order to overcome an obdurate will not to disclose information and to overcome the fear of the person under interrogation that harm will befall him from his own organization, if he does reveal information."AI page 45. Landau para 4.6. And: "The means of pressure should principally take the form of non-violent psychological pressure through a vigorous and extensive interrogation, with the use of stratagems, including acts of deception. However, when these do not attain their purpose, the exertion of a moderate measure of physical pressure cannot be avoided."AI page 45. Landau para 4.7.
But they identified a danger: "a security service . . . is always in danger of sliding towards methods practised in regimes which we abhor."AI page 47, Landau para 4.2. And "It is true that strict care must be taken, lest a breach of the structure of prohibitions of the criminal law bring about a loosening of the reins, with each interrogator taking matters into his own hands through the unbridled, arbitrary use of coercion against a suspect. In this way the image of the State as a law-abiding polity which preserves the rights of the citizen, is liable to be irreparably perverted, with it coming to resemble those regimes which grant their security organs unbridled power."
It recommended:
"First, disproportionate exertion of pressure on the suspect is inadmissible; the pressure must never reach the level of physical torture or maltreatment of the suspect or grievous harm to his honour which deprives him of his human dignity. Second, the possible use of less serious measures must be weighed against the degree of anticipated danger, according to the information in the possession of the interrogator. Third, the physical and psychological means of pressure permitted for use by an interrogator must be defined and limited in advance, by issuing binding directives. Fourth, there must be strict supervision of the implementation in practice of the directives given to GSS interrogators. Fifth, the interrogator's superiors must react firmly and without hesitation to every deviation from the permissible, imposing disciplinary punishment, and in serious cases by causing criminal proceedings to be instituted against the offending interrogator."AI page 44, Landau para 3.16.
The guidelines for means of pressure permitted were contained in the second part of the report, which "for understandable reasons" were kept secret. The Commission stated that the code was less severe than techniques used by the British army in Northern Ireland and followed the standards set down by the European Court of Human Rights in 1978. They recommended that the code should be reviewed annually by a small Ministerial Committee "reporting to the Services Subcommittee of the Knesset's Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee."AI page 45, Landau para 4.8.
Physical pressure
Before the Commission In 1968 the International Committee for the Red Cross issued a report on Nablus Prison, one of the IDF's detention centers in the recently captured West Bank. It found: "Suspension of the detainee by the hands and simultaneous traction of his other members for hours at a time until he loses consciousness. Burns with cigarette stubs. Blows by rods on the genitals. Tying up and blindfolding for days. Bites by dogs. Electric shocks at the temples, the mouth, the chest and testicles."National Lawyers Guild. 1977 Middle East Delegation. "Treatment of Palestinians in Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza: report of the National Lawyers Guild 1977 Middle East Delegation." . 1978. Page 103. quoting UN Special Committee Report, Doc, A/8089 (1970), para. 107, p. 50.